Pascal Bentoiu (April 22, 1927, Bucharest – February 21, 2016, Bucharest), Romanian composer and musicologist. He studied music with Mihail Jora, Faust Nicolescu, Vasile Filip and Theophil Demetriescu (1943-48) while also attending the Bucharest Law School (1945-47). Researcher with the Bucharest Institute of Ethnography and Folklore (1953-56), he was Secretary of the Orchestral, Chamber and Opera Music Section of the Romanian Composers’ and Musicologists’ Union (1963-73), of which he later became the Director (1990-92).
From Bentoiu’s musicological works: Imagine și sens [Image and Meaning] (1971); Gândirea muzicală [The Musical Mind] (1975); Capodopere enesciene [Enescian Masterpieces] (1984).
From Bentoiu’s compositional oeuvre: the operas Amorul doctor [Dr Cupid] (1964) and Jertfirea Ifigeniei [The Sacrifice of Iphigenia] (1968) and Hamlet (1969); Luceafărul (1975), tone poem; String Quartet no. 2 op. 19, “Dissonance Quartet” (1973); Symphony no. 4 op. 25 (1978); Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1989).
From Bentoiu’s reconstructive work: the performing versions of Enescu’s 4th and 5th symphonies, vocal-orchestral tone poem Isis, and Piano Trio in A minor.
Pascal Bentoiu died on February 21, 2016, in Bucharest.
Petre Fugaciu